Best capture card for HDMI from Camcorder?

[djlerman]

Hello. I did a search but the threads relating to this seem to be older so I don't know if there has been an update on the products available.

I have a Canon G30 and would like to capture video / audio directly to my computer via HDMI for editing and / or web streaming.

I have Windows 7 and a ASUS P8P67 LE mother board. Most reviews or things I find relate to GAME play capture and I don't know how to relate the 2.

Basically. I record event's at a dance studio so the video would record for up to 5 hours at a time.

Thank You,
~Donavon

[LMotlow]

Hi, dude, why don't you just copy it? Nobody "captures" HD video from a digital camera unless they're looking to kill some time. If you have 5 hours of video, it would take 5 hours to "capture" it to a computer by re-recording it and taking a quality hit. Video from digital cameras is "copied" to a computer, not re-recorded. Your Canon came with a CD and utility for doing that, or you can use the USB connection, or you can copy from the SD card with an SD card reader.

HD/AVCHD is lossy encoded video not designed for editing. You can make cuts with with smart rendering HD editors, almost all of which are paid apps, otherwise your cuts are limited to I-frames in GOP segments. If you don't know what any of that means, you'd best look into using the correct software for "editing". For beginners SONY's Movie Studio is a decent start.

If you're thinking that using HDMI to re-record will give you better results than a straight copy, you're going down the wrong road.

[smrpix]

If you're looking for live streaming from the camera, we're very pleased with the Blackmagic intensity shuttle. (HDMI in -> USB)

For material recorded in the camera, use the SD card as LMotlow suggests. For long takes it is wise to copy the entire card structure to your computer where a decent NLE (Premiere Pro, Vegas Pro, Edius, Avid Media Composer) will know how to stitch together the spanned clips correctly.

[usually_quiet]

I looked at the specs for the Canon G30, which indicated that it could record 1920 x 1080p at 60 frames per second. All the capture cards that I can recall seeing which capture 1080p60 as 1080p60 provide uncompressed video to the PC, which the PC must compress. Some i5s are powerful enough to compress 1080p60 video for streaming and recording. AVerMedia notes i5-3400(Ivy Bridge) or above is recommended for their ExtremeCap U3

The external devices capable of capturing 1080p60 as 1080p60 use a USB 3.0 interface to connect with a PC. These devices (AVerMedia ExtremeCap U3 and Startech USB3HDCAP) only work with some USB 3.0 chipsets. You will need to make sure your PC has a compatible chipset before buying. Both devices have their quirks.

There are also two PCI-e cards capable of capturing capturing 1080p60 as 1080p60, the Startech PEXHDCAP60L (plus similar products based on the Yuan High-Tech SC512N1-L) and the Blackmagic Intensity Pro 4K. The Blackmagic Intensity Pro 4K is not as well-liked at this point.

[Edit]
Your motherboard has an ASMedia® USB 3.0 controller.


AVerMedia has the following information regarding the ExtremeCap u3:

2. Intel chipset with native USB 3.0 host controller(See how to check USB3.0 controller here)
(Can be used together with these certified chipsets: Renesas, Fresco, VIA*, ASMedia**)
* With VIA or ASMedia chipset, CV710’s firmware must be upgraded to v61, and driver to v1.0.x.33
**With ASMedia chipset, 1080p 60 FPS recording is only supported when running Windows 8.1 / 8 with Microsoft’s built-in USB 3.0 driver

Startech has the following information about the USB3HDCAP:

Confirmed compatible USB 3.0 host controllers: Intel, Renesas (NEC), VIA, AMD, Fresco FL1100

This product is not compatible with Etron USB controllers, or ASMedia 1042 / 1042A USB controllers. If your system has one of these non-supported controllers you can alternatively add a PCI-express USB 3.0 controller card such as the StarTech.com PEXUSB3S4V, PEXUSB3S400 or PEXUSB3S4.

[djlerman]

Hi, dude, why don't you just copy it? Nobody "captures" HD video from a digital camera unless they're looking to kill some time. If you have 5 hours of video, it would take 5 hours to "capture" it to a computer by re-recording it and taking a quality hit. Video from digital cameras is "copied" to a computer, not re-recorded. Your Canon came with a CD and utility for doing that, or you can use the USB connection, or you can copy from the SD card with an SD card reader.

HD/AVCHD is lossy encoded video not designed for editing. You can make cuts with with smart rendering HD editors, almost all of which are paid apps, otherwise your cuts are limited to I-frames in GOP segments. If you don't know what any of that means, you'd best look into using the correct software for "editing". For beginners SONY's Movie Studio is a decent start.

If you're thinking that using HDMI to re-record will give you better results than a straight copy, you're going down the wrong road.

Just trying to upgrade from my current setup.

My current setup is a Panasonic GS-150 with the firewire port going directly into one computer for recording and the AV port going via USB capture into another computer for streaming. I can record and stream at the same time. To record I use winDV on the recording computer. This record to AVI files that I can edit in Premier Pro: http://windv.mourek.cz/

This is the PERFECT set up for my needs. Camera is up high doesn't even have media in it. I turn it off and on via extension cord. Aiming is via a trackerpod: http://www.trackercam.com/TCamWeb/productdes.htm

I can copy the files immediately after the event to DVD or memory stick or whatever for the event promoter and keep a copy for myself.

[LMotlow]

You can't capture HD to DVD unless your capture device downscales for you, and 60p can't be used for DVD. I think you must mean another format. If you keep switching cameras, let us know which one you're using for what. The same answers might not apply for everything.

[djlerman]

You can't capture HD to DVD unless your capture device downscales for you, and 60p can't be used for DVD. I think you must mean another format. If you keep switching cameras, let us know which one you're using for what. The same answers might not apply for everything.

I don't capture to DVD I capture to a file (.avi) and then copy the files to data DVD or flash drive.

The only camera I will be using is the Canon G30.

[LMotlow]

Avi is a container, not a format. If you are recording 1080p 60fps, you are recording a frame rate/frame size combo that is incompatible with BluRay/AVCHD and DVD. Keep changing your info as much as you like, but you need a better plan or give us the correct info, or make up your mind.

I should've spotted this one starting with post #1.

[usually_quiet]

True, recording at 1080p60 has drawbacks if someone wants to distribute physical copies of the video. As already mentioned 1080p60 is incompatible with authored Blu-Ray. Even if djlerman simply put a file containing a 5-hour recording on a BD media, it would be too large to fit on a 25BG BD-R or 50GB BD-R DL disc if it was captured in reasonable quality using h.264, which is more efficient than DivX. 1080p30 would work better for distribution, but might still require BD-R DL.

1080p60 is supported by YouTube for streaming now, but some other websites might re-encode to 1080p30.